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Greece is back in the news today, with a possible payment default on debt owed to the IMF only a week away. Conservatives love to use Greece as an example of irresponsible government spending and excessive debt. Two things to keep in mind about that. First, Greece had a rightwing government for decades, and much of that so-called “irresponsible” spending was military spending. Second, Greece’s rich engage in massive tax evasion, so much so they’re virtually untaxed, so Greece is a nearly perfect example of what an ultra-low-tax society looks like. Thus, Greece is in many ways a microcosm of precisely the type of society that conservatives want to create here in the U.S.

Timmeh’s gimmick this time is an initiative that would lower the state sales tax by $1 billion a year unless the legislature puts a supermajority constitutional amendment on the ballot. He’ll probably get enough signatures. If he does, it’ll likely pass. If it does, it probably won’t survive a court challenge. But, as a UW law professor says, “he doesn’t care.” He only “wants to get the legislature’s attention.”

It’s pretty easy to get voters to go along with cutting regressive taxes and making it nearly impossible to reimpose* regressive taxes. The problem with Timmeh’s approach is that he isn’t promoting tax reform; he’s proposing Greek-style no-taxes government. Like all rightwingers, his answer to unfair taxes is no public services.

* Washington taxpayers have already received sales tax cuts far in excess of I-1366’s proposed $1 billion cut, and it didn’t require a constitutional amendment, legislative action, or citizen initiative to implement them. All they had to do was stop buying stuff, which they did, and sales tax collections dropped by billions. Any tax increase by the legislature would merely restore some of the taxes Washington citizens quit paying during the recession.

If we’re going to have the no-taxes, no-public-services state that Timmeh envisions, I think that when we close our prisons, we should dump all the felons and sex offenders into his neighborhood and let him figure out how to deal with them.

“The University of Washington has installed side guards on all 31 box trucks in their fleet. These guards, which … cover the gap between the front and rear wheels of the truck, … could provide a huge safety increase for people walking and biking near trucks. Often, people killed or seriously injured in collisions with trucks are … run over by the rear wheels. The side guards … push people out of the way of the wheels. … [T]hey are so effective the UK has mandated side guards on all lorries [and] … deaths of people biking in side-impact collisions with lorries declined 61 percent, according to the UW’s press release.”

Roger Rabbit Commentary: Deaths from bicycle collisions with trucks would decline even more if cyclists don’t tee-bone trucks. I mean, how the hell do you tee-bone a truck on a bicycle if you’re watching where you’re going? It’s easy to see how these accidents happen. How many cyclists do you see flying down the street at 30 – 40 mph with their heads down, oblivious to vehicle traffic and pedestrians alike, because they expect everyone else to get out of their way? Splaaattt …

Truck passes rider on rider’s left, driver is unaware if there is full clearance between their rear and the cyclist, makes turn directly on top of cyclist. In this scenario clearly the cyclist is at fault because any time a faster moving vehicle passes them on the left the cyclist should slam on their brakes and come to a stop until the path of the vehicle is crystal clear.

Flipside to this. If cyclists did the safe thing and rode fully in the lane not allowing a vehicle to pass and slowed car traffic they would likely eventually be killed by a road raging driver

100% of my close calls in the last five years have been the result of someone overtaking me on my bike and then making a right turn across my path.

@6 Well yeah, all vehicles have blind spots on their right, whereas cyclists have 360-degree (or at least 180 degree) visibility, plus a truck has many times the mass of a bicycle and rider and thus needs much more stopping distance. Vehicle avoidance is a basic survival skill for cyclists.

In these cases the motor vehicle blind spot is enhanced to include the front windshield where the driver did not see a cyclist as the vehicle approached through the side window where the driver did not see the cyclist next to the vehicle as the vehicle passed and on into the actual rear right blind spot where the cyclist is when the right turn is made.

Elected leaders for Seattle are demanding that the Port of Seattle cancel a lease with companies engaged in Arctic oil exploration. Yet, city government collects millions of dollars in tax revenues from Arctic-based fuel.

PuddyCommentary… So Seattle should give up all those millions of tax revenues.

If it is a moral imperative for the Port to forgo such revenue, should city officials keep it?

OF COURSE they should. DUMMOCRETINS always talk out both sides of their mouth. Hand out for the tax revenues… diss how they come in!

Financial statistics reveal solid budget surpluses existed in 1960–73 for the Greek general government, but since then only budget deficits were recorded.[72][73][74] In 1974–80 the general government had an era with moderate and acceptable budget deficits (below 3% of GDP). Unfortunately this was followed by a long period with very high and unsustainable budget deficits in 1981–2013 (above 3% of GDP).[73][74][75][76]

According to an editorial published by the Greek conservative newspaper Kathimerini, large public deficits were indeed one of the features that have marked the Greek social model since the restoration of democracy in 1974. After the removal of the right-wing military junta, the government wanted to bring disenfranchised left-leaning portions of the population into the economic mainstream.[77] In order to do so, successive Greek governments have, among other things, customarily run large deficits to finance enormous military expenditure, public sector jobs, pensions and other social benefits. Greece is, as a percentage of GDP, the second-biggest defense spender [78] among the 27 NATO countries after the United States, according to NATO statistics. The US is the major beneficiary of Greek military expenditure, with the Americans supplying 42 per cent of its arms, Germany supplying 22.7 per cent, and France 12.5 per cent of Greece’s arms purchases.[79]

Yet, morons like worser jump up and down every time the senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit delivers a post. And…, when you really research the senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit post, it’s another foray into the BULLSHITTIUM Twilight Zone!

@11 Question for Puddyidiot: Is global warming caused by consumption of the oil used to make 50 kayaks?

If there’s a dingbat rightwing talking point out there, cooked up by some Koch-funded hallucination factory, you can count on Puddyidiot to re-vomit it without application of any critical thinking whatsoever.

Right wing media, “Clinton Cash – the story of how an apolitical charity organization is furthering the political future of Hillary Rhodam Clinton. It is clear to anyone who looks at it the Clinton’s are laundering money into Hillary’s and Bill’s political activities. EVERYONE can see it and anyone who gave to the foundation is trying to get Hillary elected.”

EVERYONE who gave.

Like News Corp. Like Donald Trump Like Richard Mellon-Scaife

Clearly they were buying influence and helping Hillary consolidate power.

@16 Well, the way I see it, the solution to all these problems is just don’t work for Republican wages. In fact, it’s preferable to not work at all. It’s much more rewarding, materially and spiritually, to sit on your ass flipping stocks all day like I do. There’s no good reason why we Democrats shouldn’t live like Republicans, too.

Puddy posted on the Obummer-Warren dustup last week. You are now just getting to it? Once again you prove how slow your mind is rujaxoffallthetimestillprovingnuthinappears! Go back and search the archives or call on your big brother yellowishleakingbuttspigot arschloch for a crazed databaze replay!

Federal law bars convicted felons from possessing guns. Until now, the government has interpreted that statute to mean a person, upon conviction of a felony, effectively forfeits any guns he owns to the government. But SCOTUS unanimously ruled today that felons have a right to sell or give their guns to a third party, provided the transfer isn’t a subterfuge to give the felon continued access to his guns.

Still the idiot parading as a doctor! You can always know when checkmate posts it’s from a left wrong libtard site… checkmate never leaves any links! Puddy will find the checkmate source of left wrong BULLSHITTIUM!

Media are falsely equating donations to the Clinton Foundation with contributions to a Democratic political campaign.

“all suggested a donation to the foundation was equivalent to financing Democratic candidates.” No they are not Media Morons! They are equating a quid pro quo from Clinton when she was SoS. Hence the illegal total destruction of those emails! And they are equating on 15% of donations are making it to help global AIDS prevention and deforestation among other things Media Morons!

The bullet points direct from Media Morons… nothing original from checkmate…

-Newsmax Media, Inc. The media company, which has billed itself as operating the “#1 Conservative Site in the Nation,” has made donations to the Clinton Foundation of between $100,001 to $250,000 and between $1,000,001 to $5,000,000. -Donald J. Trump. Trump, a perennial-potential Republican presidential candidate, donated between $100,001 to $250,000 to the foundation. -Richard M. Scaife. The late Scaife, who published the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, was described as “one of America’s leading funders of conservative causes.” He donated between $250,001 to $500,000 to the foundation. -News Corporation Foundation. The foundation for News Corp., which is headed by Rupert Murdoch and was formerly the parent company of Fox News, donated between $500,001 to $1,000,000 to the foundation. -James R. Murdoch. Murdoch, the co-chief operating officer of Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox and son of Rupert Murdoch, donated between $1,000,001 to $5,000,000.

Another false moral equivalence from idiotic checkmate…

Remember George Steponallofus claimed to be “factually neutral”? Was he? NOPE.

Donald Trump – So individuals still can’t give? And when did Trump and his daughter give? And what wrong doing has Trump done? Did Trump give favors as alleged against Hillary checkmate? Man U R stooooooooooooopid!

Yes, Puddy has to remove the left wrong BULLSHITTIUM collected while at the salt mine. One needs to leave the mine shaft to clear out the BULLSHITTIUM left by morons like the senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit!

Amazingly enough, mortality will catch up with Chuck and Dave, too. Does anyone even remember H. L. Hunt or Scaife? Or care about them? Money buys politicians only temporarily. Eventually, rightwing billionaires get a dirt nap just like the rest of us, and history keeps rolling on without them.

Puddy read what Puddy hijacked… It’s the BULLSHITTIUM you spewed in #1 that smells to High Heaven and is laughable…

First, Greece had a rightwing government for decades, and much of that so-called “irresponsible” spending was military spending.

The right wing government did what again senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit?

Again from the left wrong site WikiPedia…

Financial statistics reveal solid budget surpluses existed in 1960–73 for the Greek general government, but since then only budget deficits were recorded.[72][73][74]

PuddyCommentary… When caught in another BULLSHITTIUM moment, the senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit doubles down! Skips right over the first paragraph that delivers the

KAAAAAAAAAAAAABLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

to the silliness @1, butt then tries to cover up the BULLSHITTIUM by accusing Puddy of not reading the copied material. The senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit claimed right wing governments caused the deficits. FACTS, always sanitizing the BULLSHITTIUM stains of the senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit prove otherwise that the senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit has early onset senility.

@34 Sure you can. They have the same right to be hypocrites as Republicans have. In any case, if you look very closely at this photo, you’ll see a wooden canoe in the middle of it. So what’s your beef with the wooden canoe?

HeeHeeHee. Funny how you run to the Google but demand “LINKS!” (Stollen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal, they are on the list of donors too.)

The right wing media are treating the bubbling not-scandal as if any donation to the Clintons was expected to come with a quid-pro-quo. So what did NewsMax, NewsCorp and Donald Trump hope to get out of it. The nation DEMANDS answers.

So individuals still can’t give? And when did Trump and his daughter give? And what wrong doing has Trump done?

Well said. do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight and now it’s, “Well some individuals who donated there is nothing wrong with that. But OTHER individuals who donated why THATS A SCANDAL.”

Keep trying. “Why if only they listened to Hannity they would know this stuff and then they wouldn’t have voted for her and I wouldn’t be watching her get innaugurated on this cold January morning. How can they not see the world as I see it through the media I consume?” Piddles and all the retired and dying Fox news viewers of America.

I’ll tell you though in cases of nasty divorces where custody of children is at stake allegations of physical abuse are very very common. It’s difficult to prove someone didn’t do it and it’s just one thing a judge will consider when deciding to whom to award primary custody. I’m not saying that to be anti-women or not believing the victim it just is something that happens in family law.

Nor am I comfortable saying he didn’t do it. No one knows except Bill and his ex.

Sure, the charges went nowhere. But, really, who’s to know? Maybe he beat her while they were living together. Ya gotta figure that marrying a woman named Lolita is gonna cause some trouble in your life, amirite?

No one really knows except Alan and Lolita.

Oh. I also have it on good authority that Alan Grayson paid no income taxes for 10 years. No, 12. Make it 15.

The important thing is to make the allegation.

You know, I heard the Amtrak train derailed after someone fired a howitzer shell at it.

He has a fuckton of experience with the fucking jesus (or is it fucking the jesus…I have heard that people who’ve been there really think that’s the name of his goat ’cause of how loud he shrieking harpie HR nightmare ‘can’t be fired unless he’s caught with a car trunk full of tied-up white kids, ulitmate affirmative action baby’ warmongering prick and shameless uncle tom puddyfuckwad gets).

Nice work Sloppy. Things to consider. “Who’s really to know?” There’s video of Mrs. Grayson keeping him out of the house absent of a protective order. Guess what, that’s not legal in family court. There’s video of her hitting Alan Grayson. Guess what. That’s assualt in furtherence of denying him access to his house and belongings absent of a protective order. How do I know this? Because she filed for a protective order after this incident.

Nice when a false equivillancy blows up in your face, in’t?

As for Bill O, the one making the accusation is the 16 year old daughter. So one of two things. Either it happened or she so loves Bill that she does not under any circumstances want to live with him so is willing to lie to help mom get custody.

Niether of those scenarios speak well of a “Family Values” trumpeting good Catholic man like O’Reilly. Maybe he can scrub his reputation clean with a loofah.

Puddy correctly identified even to the order the Media Morons link down to the order delivered on HA DUMMOCRETINS and checkmate delivers anther of his train wreck substitution entries @38.

EPIC FAYLE dude! Just admit it was Media Morons and we’ll move on, so to speak!

It’s about Hillary and the Foundation use of the donations lost on checkmate. In fact checkmate checkmate’s himself every time he posts. It’s documented by Wa Post fact checker that only 15% of the donations reach their intended target. The rest, 85%, flows into the Clinton war chest and other locations!

And the Foundation had to resubmit 5 years of tax returns. Would checkmate be allowed to refile 5 years of tax returns because checkmate submitted BULLSHITTIUM as returns? Thank you Peter Schweizer for exposing the cockroach nest called the Clinton Foundation.

Yeah…RMoney can rip off taxpayers and kill the jobs of thousands of workers but the freaks in congress and he shrieking harpie HR nightmare ‘can’t be fired unless he’s caught with a car trunk full of tied-up white kids, ulitmate affirmative action baby’ warmongering prick and shameless uncle tom puddyfuckwad think it’s illegal for the Clintons to make money.

O.K. you got me. From 2000-2004 PSOK ran parliament. I’m O.K. with making a mistake.

ND took back over in 2000.

But as long as you bring it up. Greece’s debt to GDP actually decreased during this period going from 103% to 97%. Clearly those leftists were spending with abandon.

Then what happened?

ND takes the reigns for the next five years. Starting with a debt to GDP of 97% to 98.6% in 2005 (not bad some PSOK policy must have still been in effect) then 100% in 2006, then 106% in 2007. By the time ND was done wrecking the economy and tossed out in 2009 that ratio 112.9% By then there was nothing left to do but pray and ride the collapsing wave, sound familiar?

Clearly the spendy leftists who were out of power in 2004-2009 drove up Greece’s debt and caused the collapse. It’s so simple. It’s right wing dogma so it MUST be true.

“I am very optimistic about Iraq. I think it’s gonna be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re gonna see 90,000 American troops come marchin’ home by the end of the summer. You’re gonna see a stable government in Iraq that is actually movin’ toward a representative government. I’ve been there 17 times now. I go about every two months, three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It’s impressed me. I’ve been impressed, how they have been deciding to use the political process, rather than guns, to settle their differences.”

PuddyCommentary… So what happened teabaggin buttbusting BULLSHITTIUM buttbigot gorilla? It had nuthin to do with BUSH you jackASS! That achievement was the introduction of ISIS to the world after Obummer cut and ran!

Bush removed Mohammed Corsi? Bush removed Mohammed Khadify in Libya? Bush drew the red line in the sand in Syria?

Really teabaggin buttbusting BULLSHITTIUM buttbigot gorilla?

Seems the feckless foreign policy of Obummer is like a foot fungal infection. A disaster!

“HOUSTON May 18 (Reuters) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday signed a bill into law that prohibits cities and towns from banning an oil drilling practice known as hydraulic fracking, giving the state sole authority over oil and gas regulation.”

After years of foot-dragging and intense political debate, Gov. Cuomo’s administration announced Wednesday that it will not allow the controversial gas drilling process known as hydrofracking in New York.

Local control. Yet another long-held conservative principle thrown under the bus by today’s fascist DUMMOCRETIN party.

– His sixth great grandfather Nathaniel Stanley purchased a slave boy named Tobe in Hartford, Connecticut in 1728 – And on his father’s side of the family, Affleck’s ancestor James McGuire kept eight slaves on his farm in Trenton, New Jersey in the 1840sWow senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit!

KAAAAAAAAAAAAABLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

85

Rujax! Proudly Calling Bullshit and Snarking the puddyfuckwad Since 2007spews:

If it’s true, as I wrote below, that the public case for the Iraq War was built on a series of half-truths, misdirections and lies, it’s fair to ask, just what was the point then? And what did President and Dick Cheney and everyone else think was going to happen after the invasion? It’s a good question. Let me try to answer it.

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of Mt. St. Helens. Found this article about the 30th anniversary, with an interview with KOMO News cameraman Dave Crockett, who filmed some of the aftermath of the eruption. Ironically, KOMO was in the middle of pulling the crew out, and have their sister station in Portland cover the activity on the mountain.http://www.komonews.com/news/l.....l?mobile=y

Meanwhile, one of our other volcanos, due to it’s location being out of sight and out of mind, is finally getting monitored.

Even though Hillary destroyed her email server… The originators and the recipients still have those emails. Sooooooooooooooo how much do you think Putin, Keqiang, and others paid for those emails? http://nypost.com/2015/05/17/h.....-scandals/

A second secret email address used by Hillary Rodham Clinton while she was secretary of state was revealed Monday. The email address, published by The New York Times, was used in exchanges between Clinton and longtime adviser Sydney Blumenthal, and is from the same private email server that was uncovered earlier this year.

PuddyCommentary… The New Your Slimes is part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy… right senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit?

No wonder the senile schismatic IDIOT Wabbit keeps using the Sidney Blumenthal BULLSHITTIUM once a month on HA DUMMOCRETINS!

Somehow Loretta Sanchez being a racist, and someone I can’t vote for or against as I don’t live in her district….or her state, has something to do with GREECE. Wow powerful rhetoric, one might call it Reaganesque.

Should I send you an atlas?

Another totally nonsensical ‘Score’ form Piddles. He’s a legend in his own home. Master of debate on his own toilet. The most logical and intelligent person within his personal space. He just scored the equivellance of preschool diploma. It makes Piddles feel good but everyone else knows it doesn’t mean shit.

“It’s harder to end a war than begin one. Indeed, everything that American troops have done in Iraq -– all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering -– all of it has led to this moment of success. Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations.”

-President Putz Obama

How can Iraq be broken? Barry waved his hand and claimed all is good with the world…so what gives?

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